EP 73 Holistic Rendezvous: Blair Horton’s Approach to Artistic Mocktails and Healthy Living

Hey friends! In this episode, I sit down with the remarkable Blair Horton from Holistic Rendezvous, a holistic nutrition consultant, natural chef, and student of functional medicine, who is transforming the way we think about health and wellness. Blair’s journey is nothing short of inspiring as she opens up about her transition from a traditional career path to becoming a passionate advocate for holistic health and natural healing. We dive deep into her insights on the importance of listening to your body, the magic of holistic remedies, and how she helps people transform their lives through mindful eating and other health and wellness tips.

Blair and I also chat about her thoughts and feelings on the term 'mocktail,' and how she's revolutionizing the concept with her artistic flair. She passionately combines her love for art with nutritious drinks to create elixirs that are, not only good for you, but also visually stunning. We explore the inspiration behind her beautiful concoctions and her tips on balancing a thriving career with a fulfilling personal life. Whether you’re looking to boost your health, find your passion, or just need a good dose of inspiration, this episode is packed with wisdom, warmth, and a whole lot of fun!

Get in touch with Blair!
Website | Instagram | Facebook

Mentioned Resources
Tea, Tonic, and Elixir Recipes

Thanks to Giesen 0% Wines for being our exclusive non-alcoholic wine sponsor!

Connect with Deb on Instagram: @Mocktail.Mom

• Grab a guide to help when dining out: Ordering Out Made Easy
• Join my wonderful membership community, Thriving Alcohol-Free: Mocktail Mom Membership
• Website: MocktailMom.com
• Celebrate your Authentic Freedom

You are loved. Big Time Cheers!

Transcript

Deb: 0:01

Buckle up, friends and welcome to the Thriving Alcohol-Free Podcast. I'm your host, Deb, otherwise known as Mocktail Mom, a retired wine drinker that finally got sick and tired of spinning on life's broken record called Detox to Retox. Let this podcast be an encouragement to you. If alcohol is maybe a form of self-care for you, where you find yourself dragging through the day waiting to pour another glass, I am excited to share with you the fun of discovering new things to drink when you aren't drinking and the joy of waking up each day without a hangover. It is an honor to serve as your sober, fun guide. So sit back and relax or keep doing whatever it is you're doing. This show is produced for you with love from the great state of Kentucky. Thanks so much for being here and big time cheers. Okay, hey friends, it's Deb. Welcome back to Thriving Alcohol-Free.

Deb: 0:52

I am so excited I almost didn't sleep last night because Blair Horton of Holistic Rendezvous you're already following her. If you're not following her on Instagram and all the places, please make sure you are. But she's amazing and I cannot even believe. She said yes to come on the podcast and share with us about holistic, healthy mocktails. Blair is a holistic nutrition consultant. She's a natural chef, a content creator, not just a content creator, you guys. She's a viral content creator behind Holistic Rendezvous. She loves talking all things women's health, hormones and pleasure. Well, am I reading it right? You are, I like talking things.

Blair: 1:24

Women's health hormones and pleasure. Well, am I reading it right? You are. I like talking about women's pleasure.

Deb: 1:31

You're like what are we doing? Wait, wait, wait. I'm like I knew I read this before we started filming and pleasure while making recipes that are colorful, fun and full of good for you ingredients. She lives in Denver, colorado, with her boyfriend and her puppy, rose, and enjoys all things outdoors. Well, you live in the perfect state for that. Everybody in Colorado is outdoorsy. Okay, blair, welcome to the podcast. Welcome. Sorry that I wasn't reading your bio, right?

Blair: 1:55

I know it's fine. I feel like that. Sometimes it's like women's pleasure, what's happening. I didn't just roll off my tongue there.

Deb: 2:02

I was like wait a minute, what we can get into that if you want to. Yes, we can talk about that too if you'd like to. Whatever you want to talk about is fine with me, but, yes, I'm so excited to have you here, so excited to hear your journey of getting into mocktails. Your account is incredible, oh my gosh. Thank you so much. Every video, from the garnishes to what you have on the top of the mocktails, everything.

Blair: 2:34

Are you just a naturally super creative person? So I was originally an art major and like couldn't decide between art and nutrition. So I feel like that's probably where that comes from. I'm also a perfectionist, so I'm like I need this to look so good every time. It's like something that I have to try to, you know, work on, especially in this space where we're like turning stuff out all the time. It's like doesn't have to be look absolutely perfect to be meaningful or exciting. That's like what makes me happy. It's like I need to like eat drink with my eyes first. So it probably does come from like my art background. But so I'm like how can we make really nutritious things really pretty and get people excited about like herbs and different things by like using colors, like I know you know people love like the edible glitters and like adding food coloring and I'm like but we can do this with herbs that actually have benefits. So that's what excites me.

Deb: 3:29

Yes, You're like, we do not need red dye number, you know whatever.

Blair: 3:33

Yeah, no.

Deb: 3:35

No, no, yeah, Okay. So did you grow up like in a really healthy household, like did you start eating granola at like 10 months old? How did you get into?

Blair: 3:46

nutrition. So I always say that I feel like my opening for nutrition started, and my dad is fine I always have to say that first, really quickly but he had a heart attack when I was in fourth or fifth grade, and so the doctors which is so interesting, because I have no nutrition training at all give their patients like, hey, this is what you should be doing for your heart health, like after they release you from the doctor. And so our whole family kind of adopted that, since, like we're not my mom's not going to make two meals, we're all just going to like eat the same thing. Unfortunately, knowing what I know now, the information that they give you I find to be almost the exact opposite of what you should be doing. But that is definitely where it started.

Blair: 4:35

We were on a very low sodium diet which actually caused a lot of issues for my health personally, with digestive issues, and so that was kind of like once I figured that out in high school I was like I'm always like have constipation issues, especially when I travel, but like kind of quite regularly. And I there was like a functional doctor in our area that my mom had gone to see and I went with her, and they were like you are so deficient in salt and fat and I was like, ah, you know that low fat, low sodium diet they wanted my dad on. And then I feel like throughout high school in general, just I was an athlete but tore my ACL so it didn't feel as like, you know, athletic as I had before. So definitely like also some like disordered body image stuff going on and disordered eating patterns. That got me like super interested in health and then I would read every single book on health I could find because I was like so interested I've been on vegan diets, raw vegan diets, paleo, keto. I've tried it all. I love experiment, loved experimenting on myself, not necessarily probably coming from the best place in the world at that time, but you know we're fine now, our poor teenage selves, the things we were doing. But yeah, then I ended up in college studying art, switched to nutrition because I was like this is actually what I've always been passionate about nutrition and sports science.

Blair: 5:56

While I was doing that, I was also doing like outside courses and more of the holistic health space, because that was kind of like where my heart really was was seeing food as medicine and not just like what the agricultural industry is trying to profit off. I could go on a tangent about that, but yeah. So when I was in school for nutrition, I planned on actually being a registered dietitian just to like have that in my back pocket. But I like really, really, really disagreed with what I was being taught and I was like I can't, I can't do this, like I don't think that we should be consuming artificial sweeteners every day. Like, okay, sure, every once in a while, like I'm not going to be dogmatic, but don't tell us like to eat, consume artificial sweeteners all the time. It was very bizarre. So I was like I don't think I can do this. We were having luncheons with Monsanto and these agricultural companies that I really disagreed with the practices that they were doing. So, yeah, then I moved out to Colorado.

Blair: 6:59

That's how I got here for my holistic nutrition program, which is basically like an 18-month program, kind of like if you were to do a registered dietitian program, but it's like a registered holistic nutrition program, really, yeah. So I had always planned on doing that, but I was like I'm going to do both, so I have both, and I was like I cannot spend another minute in these classes. So, yeah, that's kind of how I got started on like the nutrition path and was always like itching and itching for more information, hence my perfectionism that I kind of told you about. But we've like really worked to not stroke that part of my ego. I'm like we don't need to take a class constantly, okay, we can just like live our life, which has been really good. So you're not taking any classes right now. No, I'm not enrolled in anything. I haven't been for like five years, six years maybe.

Blair: 7:54

Is it freeing? So freeing I was like trying to do like every functional medicine. I was like functional medicine, let's do this. And I was like well, you know what this is like, not necessarily me. I'm like a very like artistic person and I was like I would prefer to combine that and like ease and I'm like sure we can learn like every detail about food possible, about like every vitamin, how it interacts in the body, and like the biochemical process. But in reality it's just like eating real food and like taking care of your mental health. And I was like just because my ego wants me to know every possible thing in the world and like stroke my perfectionism constantly, um, doesn't mean I have to do that. So I was like we're not doing that anymore, we're taking an exit off this highway we're going into elixirs, mocktails, okay.

Deb: 8:42

So how did I mean just know hearing your background? Because your account is exactly that. It's the art and the nutrition. I mean, it's exactly that. So how did you start your Instagram account and did you plan this out? What were your thoughts when you started your account?

Blair: 8:56

Yeah, so I started my account you know like 10 years ago. How old am I? Whenever it was like shortly after Instagram started, it wasn't like okay, it was like my senior year of college or my super senior year.

Deb: 9:12

Super senior year. Yes, yes.

Blair: 9:14

I had many super senior years. Yeah Well, you know, transferring, switching majors from art to nutrition, it's like going from art to a pre-med degree Not a lot of classes, it doesn't really overlap Transfer over.

Deb: 9:27

Yes, yes, that makes sense.

Blair: 9:29

Yeah, yeah. So I started it then because I knew that I never wanted to work in like a hospital setting. So it was kind of right before I started my holistic nutrition program in Colorado, like right before I moved here, I was like, okay, I'm going to have to have some type of online presence in order to get clients. So I started a blog and then I started my Instagram account and I never I was again like kind of using it just for I was like this is how I'm going to get clients and work with people and that's initially what I used it for. But I about like a year and a half ago honestly, not even that long ago I was like I actually want to take this more seriously and treat it like a job instead of just posting willy-nilly whenever I feel like it. And so, yeah, I just made a schedule for myself and I was like you post five times a week at this time. This is when you do your content, this is when you do this. And I was like you post five times a week at this time, this is when you do your content, this is when you do this, and that is kind of where a lot of my success in the online space started Again.

Blair: 10:36

I'd been posting for so long before that and would have some brand partnerships and definitely got clients and things like that. But I wasn't being focused with it, so the time that I was spending on it wasn't necessarily being fruitful. I was like it's you know. So I was like, okay, we're either going full send or we're just gonna not do it. But I really like love how it does allow me to intersect, like art and like making things beautiful with nutrition and like having a community. So that's kind of how we got here.

Blair: 11:07

But it's funny, I have actually been making elixirs I would call them for probably like nine years, because I've never had I never have been a coffee drinker and in my nutrition program we would always talk about how much coffee are people drinking. That was like with clients, like it would always be like, okay, how much coffee are you drinking, how tired are you? Actually, it was like such a huge part of what we were doing, like people over-exercising and over-caffeinating was what I saw. So much, yeah, and I would assume it had a lot to do with like Boulder and Denver being like super, super active places. People just like needing a lot of caffeine to continue running ultra marathons and doing things that maybe weren't like the best. Like you, they were under fueling with food over fueling with caffeine.

Blair: 12:01

And so I was always like, oh, but I understand like the ritual of this is so important to people, like hearing people talk about it. I was like, yeah, I like love that for you. Drink one eight ounce cup of coffee Is that what you recommend Really?

Deb: 12:16

Yeah, like one eight ounce cup of coffee, not like have make a pot and drink it all day.

Blair: 12:26

Yeah, no, okay, okay it's so interesting though like diving into I mean, this is like totally something off topic, but like diving into genetics, though, like some people, caffeine really doesn't do anything to them, so like they're fine.

Blair: 12:35

I don't do super well with caffeine, so I will like lose my mind. But I think it's a good place to be able to recognize if you are like actually tired and not realizing it, to like hey, let's like what would happen if we only have eight ounces of coffee, like actual, just like one serving of caffeine, just to see you know what's going on, like are there some deficiencies happening in your energy levels? But I think the main thing is like a lot of people want to eat, drink coffee on an empty stomach, which, like I'm not gonna lie, I will have coffee like every once in a while, only when I'm ovulating, and it's like the tiniest amount ever. And then I have to put a ton of functional mushrooms in it, otherwise I will go crazy. But I have like had coffee without eating a huge breakfast and I'm like I get it. I feel like I am on so many drugs.

Deb: 13:25

Really You're like okay, I'm ready to go. I like, wow, you get a lot done.

Blair: 13:32

Yeah, yeah, no, I'm not gonna get anything done, honestly, because I'm too hype. Okay, like I need to go on a hike, do something, like I can have it go hiking, very sensitive, but I'm like, oh, this is a drug, this is the yeah, for me because I'm like yeah.

Deb: 13:44

I'm probably super sensitive to know how it affects your body. Yeah to know, because right, because some people are more sensitive. Yeah, yeah, like I know some people can drink caffeine at night.

Blair: 13:50

Oh, yeah, just go to sleep, they're fine. Yeah, yeah, and for me it's a very intense, but especially if you don't eat, I'm like, oh yeah, cause like your blood sugar is skyrocketing at the inner, I mean, you feel wild. It's like being drunk, honestly, yeah, so I'm like for me for me, not where we want to go, not yet.

Deb: 14:09

Exactly, yeah, exactly.

Blair: 14:10

Anyways love the ritual aspect of it though. So I started like I was like I kind of like want this in my own life in a different way, and so I started making what I was calling like elixirs every morning. I was like I want to like I know a lot of people do this with smoothies. They're like how much can I pack in here to get a bunch of nutrients to start the day? I was like I want like functional mushrooms and herbs in a glass that's like warm and comfy, and so that's like kind of how I started making like drinks with benefits. And this was so long ago and if you go on my website there is a tea tinctures and elixirs book from like 10 years ago that I made that like no one was super interested in at the time Tea tinctures and elixirs but it 10 years ago that I made that like no one was super interested in at the time Tea tinctures and elixirs. Okay.

Blair: 14:53

But, it's like from so long ago and it was something that I like gave my clients if they signed with me, and it has some things that I would consider to be mocktails now, but I just wasn't calling them that and, to be honest, I had such a what is the word? Like a blockage of calling things mocktails, because to me it does kind of sound like leaving something out, because some people are like, yeah, don't call them mocktail. People have so many opinions, obviously online, and then they're like we'll call it a non-alcoholic cocktail. And I'm like, well, it still sounds like something's missing and so I had never called my drinks that. I was like these are functional elixirs, they're super fun, but the algorithm works how it wants to work, and so I was like, okay, I had friends being like Blair, you're making all these really beautiful things. I think if you called them mocktails, it would do really well and it did. But yeah, so I'm curious I saw you shaking your head what your thoughts are on mocktails, on the word mocktails, on the word mocktails, and just I get it and I think it's super helpful for marketing and for people to understand, especially people who are on a sober, curious journey or recently trying to decrease their alcohol consumption.

Blair: 16:09

So for me to be more helpful, I totally get it. It's just like I can be such a little stickler for not wanting to jump on trends. I guess I'm like, but I don't want to, right? I?

Deb: 16:20

don't want to call them mocktails.

Blair: 16:21

I don't want to call them mocktails.

Deb: 16:22

You know what it's so funny. I don't care, I don't mean that. I mean there's people who call them alcohol-free cocktails or non-alcoholic cocktails, or I know lots of people who are against the word mocktails. They would never call it a mocktail. It's like they're offended and I'm like get over yourself. Who cares? Call whatever you want. For me, I just feel like it just is an easy term that people understand. Do you know what I mean? Maybe maybe it's not the first thing you know, but I think I think you can tell people that and they understand what it means. As opposed to like you know. You know just certain words Like now we all understand. You know a veggie burger, you know it's. You know like we get it Like, and I feel like the mocktail space is coming along as well Like same, like vegetarian food, things like that. Like people now understand.

Blair: 17:13

I agree with that 100%. I actually like it is so funny, like I think I got into like an article one time talking about how it's offensive to call drinks mocktails and I was like all right, we need to like yeah, calm the fuck down. I'm like guys,

Deb: 17:29

Who's offending?

Blair: 17:39

Who? Who are we offending alcohol? Like sorry, um, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, my thing with it has nothing to do with that. I do, like you're saying, it's a great way for people to understand what you're doing, and that was like a clicker for me of just being like okay, this is how people understand and this is how like what they're searching what they and also honestly like I'm hoping that then they search for that and then they see mine and they're like, oh, but these also have benefits.

Blair: 18:00

That's really cool. So I'm like it is funny how people like just like nitpick on stuff like that always. But yeah, I think it's a fine word.

Deb: 18:10

It's a fine word. Well, I obviously do. I picked Mocktail Mom as my Instagram handle, so I was like, well, I'm not drinking alcohol. What's a good word that people would know it makes sense.

Blair: 18:21

I was just curious if you also noticed how some people think that mocktail means lacking something, versus this is adding something, and I guess that's kind of where I'm like. I want you to think of my drinks as adding something to your life, but it is, it's a mocktail.

Deb: 18:40

And they are Blair, and they are your drinks are so beautiful.

Blair: 18:44

I mean really like you're just hitting the ball out of the park. I really appreciate that.

Deb: 18:49

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Deb: 18:52

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Deb: 20:12

All right, so like now you're a year and a half ago. You're like, okay, I'm going all in. You know full send on this account. So did you change? Okay, so you post regularly, five times a week, a certain time of day. Do you batch content? Do you have like all these cameras set up? Like your, your angles? Are you just like moving the camera around? Do you have a background? Like did you take a course?

Blair: 20:31

No, no, you're doing great Forever changing things too. I recently the natural light in my house is like pretty bad, so let me just like show you where I used to film everything this window, right here, this tiny little ledge. Look at the little ledge.

Deb: 20:48

That little baby ledge. The magic that came from that little baby ledge, the baby ledge.

Blair: 20:53

The baby ledge. That is where I filmed everything Really and it was so much easier to film drinks there than anything else. So I think I like kept only filming drinks because I was like, oh my God, Like every time I would try to film something else over there. I was like this is tough, Like if you're putting a plate of food Things were falling.

Blair: 21:11

It was a little wild. Yeah, your dog is like this is great. Keep filming over here. Yes, film here. But I recently changed the countertops in my kitchen, which reflect light a bit better, and then I got a big light and that has helped quite a bit. So now I feel like I have a little more flexibility. I still just prefer natural light, but our house you know, I live in downtown Denver Our houses are really close to each other so there's not a lot of light getting in Maybe we'll get some skylights in here.

Deb: 21:45

Okay, cool, and you batch. Or do you just like it's like, okay, I'm'm inspired today?

Blair: 21:50

you plan out your whole content for the month I feel like it so depends, but if definitely if I'm going out of town like I try to create a bunch of content, I feel like I definitely go through like creative waves, like I have not shot a single thing this week and today. I'm like we might need to do that because I I like to have like two weeks ahead of time. Like that just like makes me feel good. At the moment that is not the case. Maybe we have enough for next week, maybe Good for you.

Deb: 22:17

Yeah, good, good, good, yeah, but at least yeah, just to be a little bit ahead.

Blair: 22:19

A little bit ahead is helpful, especially for when I am not feeling creative, like this week. I'm like am I feeling creative? No, not really. So I don't want to like have to do something just to do it Almost like force it.

Blair: 22:33

Yeah, but then of course, when I'm creative, it's like I've got 5 million ideas and I write them all down. And then I'm like trying. I'm like, oh my gosh, how am I going to post all of this? And then I'm like, no, just keep it in the backup, because it's not going to be there all the time.

Deb: 22:52

You're right, that's so smart. That's so smart, yeah, because, right, there's days where it's like you feel it. Somebody asked me like well, what do you do when you don't feel like posting? I'm like, well, I don't, and unfortunately I haven't felt like, I just haven't been feeling whatever things have been happening and it's like, but I think to have that like where it's, like it's on my head, like I'm ahead on my that, until like a year and a half ago and I was like okay, this is your job.

Blair: 23:11

You can't like not show up to your job.

Deb: 23:14

You know what You're right?

Blair: 23:16

I just like was like you're going to have to have a shift in your headspace if you actually want to do this and make it work and like, have it be a thing, like you know no-transcript.

Deb: 23:36

I can tell you Well, we don't.

Blair: 23:39

I was like, I'll tell you.

Deb: 23:40

Okay, okay, we won't put on the podcast. Yeah, sorry.

Blair: 23:43

That's horrible. I hate doing that.

Deb: 23:47

No, it's not horrible, isn't it fun, though? Okay, so new opportunities are coming. Are these things that you were hoping for? Is it like, stuff like things like? Are things coming to you? Obviously, people are coming in your DMs and your inbox a lot, but I mean, is there stuff that you're like, you're pinching yourself, you're like I can't believe this is happening?

Blair: 24:11

I think sometimes I like forget to do that. Last week I've like had like a little bit of a cold for a week, or allergies, hard to say and I was like this is so interesting, it's happening. Like I just had like meetings on meetings, on meetings, on meetings, and then like the finale is coming today and I'm like, and I was like starting to get sick, like right before all this started, like I had a very sore throat and I was like I need to be able to talk and I was like I feel like this is my body like not telling me to slow down, but like kind of like appreciate what you're doing instead of just going into this and like not appreciating it for what it is. That's like my, the spiritual meaning I'm putting behind it. I think it's true, Like some you know like really big things happen, but when you're just like pushing and pushing, like I've been pushing for the past year and a half, like not in a bad way, like in like the best way and I think sometimes I forget, but yeah, the brands that I've been able to work with I'm like, oh my gosh, this is so cool, I love this company so much and that's always really exciting.

Blair: 25:10

I feel like I've made really cool friends and, as I'm sure I don't know what your work is outside of this, but I've never worked in an office of this. But like I've never worked in an office and so like meeting people online is kind of like probably like totally different to some people, but I don't have an office to go to, so it's like that's how I meet my work friends. I did start teaching Pilates like six years ago so that I could like go in and have a community, because I was like I'm home by myself all day and now everyone works from home, hence Michael, just like sneezing and carrying on in the background. I'm like I remember when I was just by myself all day, just like talking to the dog, and my house is small. So now we're adding an upstairs and I'm like we have to like there were adding an upstairs like adding yes, that's happening.

Deb: 26:00

There's not a two storystory house in Denver you can buy.

Blair: 26:03

Well, I bought my house six years ago. It is like almost doubled in price and the interest rates are through the freaking roof.

Deb: 26:11

The interest rates are crazy. Yeah, so, yeah, so yes, the build on. Yeah, put on a second story, I know.

Blair: 26:15

It's such a weird. That's so cool. Yeah, it seems like it would be so much easier to sell and buy another, but like to get what we will have when it's done. My mortgage would be like triple what it would be if I bought it. You know what I mean. Okay, yeah.

Deb: 26:32

Yeah.

Blair: 26:32

Okay, so how long is it going to take them to do this? Oh my gosh, like four months. So this summer is going to be a wild ride.

Deb: 26:39

You're going to need a new ledge. We're going to need a new ledge to film content. You're going to, because it's going to be loud. Well, we're not going to be able to be here.

Blair: 26:45

So I'm like, oh, content's going to not be on the ledge, I don't know where it's going to be. You need to like, you need a cute Airbnb or something yes. Residence in somewhere? I've been trying to figure that out. Let's just go to the mountains for like at least a month and like explore. That sounds fun.

Deb: 27:04

It sounds like a lot of fun, Isn't that? Nice though that, like you, you can both have kind of that nomad. Like you can work anywhere and be able to go live somewhere else and still be able to work and carry on what you're doing. Yeah definitely. Great, okay. So if somebody's like just getting started with mocktails and healthy mocktails, holistic, what would you recommend for somebody who's like really just brand new and just wants to maybe eat less sugar? Obviously, you mentioned like not eating the artificial sweeteners, you know?

Blair: 27:33

Yeah, like what do you recommend? I mean, it so depends. I feel like to get excited, like really excited. I would buy like a couple of like really fun teas like hibiscus tea, butterfly pea flower tea, rose tea I just feel like they're so pretty and like butterfly pea flower tea specifically, is so like enchanting because it changes colors when you put acid in it. Obviously it's so much easier to be like, oh my gosh, just like throw some fruit in sparkling water and have a great time. But I think you up-level drinks by adding in herbs and getting those more like complex flavors that like alcohol kind of brings, even though it tastes terrible.

Deb: 28:17

Yeah, yeah.

Blair: 28:17

Yeah, but it adds, you know, some weird, some different depth. But I think having those like really colorful herbs that also like taste, really palatable, just makes it like more exciting and fun. So then you probably would want to dive into it more.

Deb: 28:33

Makes it a lot more interesting.

Blair: 28:34

Yeah.

Deb: 28:34

And did you just decide, have you always not been a drinker, or were you a drinker and you kind of just were like, okay, I need to take a break from this.

Blair: 28:41

I have never really been that into drinking.

Blair: 28:46

I would never like say like, oh, I don't, I never drink, or like I'm sober, but like I could not tell you the last time I've had a drink had a drink.

Blair: 28:53

Yeah, I feel like we had a girl's night in like November and I was like it would have been fun to have like one glass of wine with my friends, but I don't want to rash on my face, um so, but that's like the one time this year that I can remember being like I would like to have a drink with my friend, um, but I do like, like if we're out at a bar, like if, like, my boyfriend doesn't really drink very often either, so, but like we are interested in trying cocktails, so like if he orders something or friends, I'll order them. I will definitely try them. So I'm not like strict about this in any capacity, but I love a fun drink. So that's why I like love making like really beautiful fun drinks like happy hour. I'm making really beautiful fun drinks like happy hour. I'm like I want to go to happy hour with my friends and get a beautiful drink. That makes me feel really cool and I'm living my best life and I'm like, but I don't want to drink alcohol, so how's that going to go?

Deb: 29:57

And you know what? I think your drinks do exactly that. For people who are looking scrolling, your drinks do exactly that. For people who are looking scrolling, your drinks do exactly that, that it's a beautiful drink, and maybe they hear the word mocktail and they think like, oh, wah, wah, it's a Shirley Temple and yours are so up-leveled and they're so elevated and gorgeous, they can have all of it without the-. Thank you Really.

Blair: 30:18

I had a comment on my post. This was this morning. I was just dying laughing at it. It was like I would never drink something this beautiful that didn't have alcohol in it, and I was like my brain actually can't comprehend what you're saying.

Deb: 30:32

What you're even saying. What does that even?

Blair: 30:34

mean they're like I will only drink something this beautiful if it has alcohol in it. I was like what?

Deb: 30:41

Sorry for the high nutritional value of the strength.

Blair: 30:44

That is so bizarre. I was like, well, interesting, you could have a whole post on just these kind of comments. Oh my gosh, I know they're so bizarre and I'm like you really could have so interesting.

Deb: 30:54

Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the sometimes.

Blair: 30:56

I just love chirping those people in my comments. If I'm in the right mood, I'm like please bring them on. Let me respond. Yeah, come to me, come to me. Yes, you're like, it's Friday morning, let's go.

Deb: 31:11

Friday morning I'm like, oh interesting, let's go Okay. Last question I have a membership. Thursday nights we have a happy half hour. Last night we were making a. We made a lavender bees knees.

Blair: 31:18

It was so good.

Deb: 31:19

But I was so good I asked my members. I said, okay, who has a question for? Blair and I'm one of the gals wanted to know if there's a US like, if there's a holistic wellness retreat, maybe that you recommend the. Us, or have you been to anything like that? I don't know, that's kind of out of a little different, but if not, there's no problem. I just thought to ask you that I wish I knew of a good one.

Blair: 31:40

I want to go you need to create one.

Deb: 31:41

I want to go yes, okay, so yeah, if you find one, we need to let you know.

Blair: 31:45

Yeah, I feel like one of the places that I studied was a holistic wellness place, but it wasn't a retreat necessarily. It was like people who are very ill coming to get some serious diet, nutrition, mental help, so that wasn't quite like a spa experience.

Deb: 32:08

Not where I should send the ladies for my membership. No.

Blair: 32:11

I don't even know if it's there anymore. I mean, this was like when I was a sophomore in college that I started down that path, but yeah, that's like the only. I'm like, that's the only thing that's coming ahead and it's to my head, and it's not a retreat, not the right thing, no, no, but it is a holistic wellness facility Facility and it will take you somewhere.

Deb: 32:37

Well, maybe you need to create the holistic wellness retreat. Yeah, I think people would pay a lot of money to come spend time with you and do yoga, pilates and drink the mocktails. Okay, any last mocktail advice for the listeners, or mocktail tips as we go into summer? I love the idea of the of the teas.

Blair: 32:55

Thank you, oh, my gosh, yeah, I think the best tip is to me like and maybe this isn't just me, because I like visual things, but I feel like most people are visual in some capacity Like start tasting first with our eyes yeah.

Blair: 33:09

Like and I also again kind of like going back to how you're saying like sometimes people think like if they're not drinking or they're drinking a mocktail, that that means they're missing out on something. So how can you make it feel like really, really special, special, like put it in a beautiful wine glass or something, if that's the only thing you do is that you have like this really beautiful glass that you just like love sitting down with, put your drink in there, even if it's just like a ollie pop or something? Like you're gonna feel like oh yay, I'm excited for this. Or like fun ice cubes, like it can be, like the simplest things that I just feel like make it actually feel like a self-care moment versus like I can't have alcohol, so I guess I'm gonna have this drink. You know what I mean.

Deb: 33:49

Yeah, like you're missing out. Yeah, you're not missing out, and I love that. That. It's a self-care moment. It is a self-care moment. It's one of the most yeah, healthiest right. Exactly, that's great advice. That's so great. I love that. I love that. Yes, okay, blair, thank you, thank you. Thank you for saying yes to join me today. I'm serious and I'm okay. We're going to stop recording. I want to hear the secret of what the baby is today, so I can't wait for your announcement. But we're going to say goodbye and thank you. Thank you Big time cheers to you for tuning into the thriving alcohol free podcast.

Deb: 34:22

I hope you will take something from today's episode and make one small change that will help you to thrive and have fun in life without alcohol. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share it with others, post about it on social, send up a flare or leave a rating and a review. I am cheering for you as you discover the world of non alcoholic drinks and as you journey towards authentic freedom. See you in the next episode.